Coach Tomlin's Post-Game Comments

Coach Mike Tomlin: We had some errors that make it tough to win football games. Decision errors, particularly in the punt return game. We gave up a big play on defense. We turned the ball over on offense. You do those in a visiting stadium and you really reduce your chances of winning. That happened to us tonight. There were a lot of positive efforts. We got to know some guys, making decisions tough for us and that’s great. That’s what they’re supposed to do. We will continue on with this process when we get back to Pittsburgh. Largely, the big picture beyond tonight I enjoyed the effort of men vying for positions. We will move forward with the process. We wanted to take an extended look at Landry Jones tonight. Some positives, some negatives. It’s great when a young guy gets extended action like that. We see how he rides the wave of positive and negative during the course of a football game. We see how he thinks as fatigue sets in. That was invaluable experience for a young guy tonight. Largely I think it was productive.

Did anything get sorted out at running back tonight?I thought Felix Jones helped himself. His pedigree showed. His natural run instincts showed. We’ll continue to look at it and go through the process in a proper manner once we get back to Pittsburgh.

Was there clarity at backup linebacker?I will let the tape do the talking. Some guys helped themselves, some guys didn’t. That is the reality of football, particularly this time of year.

Did you determine a punt returner?We know we have some known, capable guys. We wanted to look at some development type guys. Antonio Brown is a capable punt returner. We know that Markus Wheaton is a capable punt returner. Emmanuel Sanders is a capable punt returner. We know what those guys are capable of. We have seen it in the past, in the case of Markus earlier this month. We wanted to take a look at some other guys.

How did it go with Kelvin Beachum at center?We wanted to make sure he is center capable. We value position flexibility and he is kind of the poster boy for position flexibility. We appreciate the contributions of Kelvin. He has played tackle, guard, center and tight end. He has added value to his cause and ours.

Any injury update?The only injury is Will Johnson. He had a hamstring of some description. He is going to be evaluated.

Any feel for the team’s state of readiness? Ready or not. That is the reality of this time of year. I feel comfortable with the men we are walking to battle with next week if that is what you are asking.

Do the mistakes on special teams reflect the ever-changing personnel you are using?Hopefully it’s reflective of guys that don’t belong and we will correct that over the next 48 hours.